Haunted
by Gensomaden-Saiyuki
Summary: Takes place after Chapter 307 in the manga. Sakura was being haunted by nightmares of the past events that took place 3 years ago... She wishes it stops soon. WARNING! A BIT DARK! SasuSaku oneshot.


**_DISCLAIMER:_ I might own the world but I don't own Naruto.**

**_INSPIRATIONS:_ I've read Chapter 307, so this is the initial source of the idea of this fic. The other inspiration I had in making this fic is another fanfic entitled _Devil's Fruit_ by Wicked Enough.**

**_PLUG IN:_ I suggest you guys read _Devil's Fruit_ by Wicked Enough. It's dark and angsty, but I loved it really.**

**_DEDICATION:_ I want to dedicate this fic to everyone who reads it. I also want to dedicate this fic to the author of _Devil's Fruit_, Wicked Enough. I sure do hope you're reading this.******

**_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_ This is an idea I head immediately after reading Chapter 307 of the manga. So technically, this is how my imagination thought of what happened afterwards. Oh and some of the events that had transpired here didn't happen in the manga.**

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Haunted**  
_by: Gensomaden-Saiyuki

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"_Stop it!" Sakura screamed, "Sasuke-kun, stop that!"_

_Sasuke was about to kill Naruto when Sai got in and took the blow from Sasuke's sword._

"_SAI!" Sakura screamed as she came to his aid. Blood was gushing out from a slash wound on his abdomen, "Sai, why'd you do that for?"_

"_I said I'll protect the bonds, right?" Sai smiled._

_Sakura gathered her chakra and placed her hands over his wound and green chakra emitted from her hands as she tries to close the wound._

"_Hang in there, Sai." Sakura looked at Sai who was staring back at her._

"_Ah, so now you're a medic?" Sasuke turned at Sakura as he left Naruto, still, he yielded that sword that sword which wounded Sai._

"_It's a perfect job for someone as weak as you." Sasuke mocked._

_He lifted up his sword and…_

"_SAKURA!" Sai and Naruto shouted.

* * *

_

Sakura's eyes narrowed as she woke up and sat up on her bed.

A nightmare…

Another nightmare…

She was sweating cold and she was breathing fast.

She stared at her surroundings: she was in a hospital.

She felt that she was wounded on the left shoulder and also had several bruises and cuts all over her body. That dream… That nightmare, it was the story of how she ended up in the Konoha Hospital. The memories were still fresh.

She stared at her trembling hands and thought, _"I could have killed him."_

Seeing that it was still dark, she lay back down and closed her eyes again, wishing for a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

* * *

"_Why did you interfere?" Sasuke asked Yamato who performed Mokuton: Moku Joheki **(Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall)** in order to protect himself, Sakura and Sai from the blow._

"_In order for you to get the Mangekyou Sharingan, you have to kill your best friend, right? You have to kill Naruto, right? Why didn't you do it? He had a point there! Now, why do you plan on killing Sakura, too?" Yamato asked._

"_Do you really have to ask that question?" Sasuke eyed Sakura coldly, "People as weak as her don't deserve to live."_

"_What are you saying, Sasuke-teme!" Naruto asked as he tried to stand up, "Don't involve Sakura-chan here!"_

_Sai saw that Sakura was trying her best to keep her composure. She bit her lower lip so hard that it was now bleeding; her eyes were shut tight, so as not to let the tears of pain escape._

"_Sakura-san, I'm fine now." Sai said, although his wound has not been even closed yet._

"_Just keep quiet and stay put as I mend your wound." Sakura opened her eyes and pretended she didn't hear anything._

"_Sakura-san-"_

"_Don't worry, as soon as I finish here, I'll get him." Sakura smiled, "Weak, huh? I'll beat the crap out of you, Sasuke, just to prove around here who's weak now!""_

_As usual, her infamous short temper got the hold of her._

"_Look at her, pretending not to hear anything from me." Sasuke insulted as he tried to fight off Yamato, "Poor Sakura, never improved at all!"

* * *

_

Sakura snapped her eyes open.

It was the continuation of the dream she had when she was in the hospital two years ago. But why did it haunt her that long?

She stared at her surroundings: she was in her room in her apartment.

She eyed at her alarm clock on her bedside table and it says it's just 4:39 in the morning.

She wiped the sweat off her forehead and sighed loudly. She closed her eyes and slept again.

* * *

_Sakura finished treating Sai's wound and she slowly stood up._

_Her clenched fists were trembling as she saw that Yamato was thrown violently on a wall in front of her, beaten badly by Sasuke. Sai slowly sat up._

"_You know, I don't know how you were able to talk that much lately, Sasuke-**kun**." Sakura stared at the sky, "Did the boredom in this sickly place get the best of you?"_

"_Hurry up, slowpoke." Sasuke wiped away the blood on his sword with the sleeve of his shirt, "If you want a fight, come get some."_

"_Under the tutelage of the Hokage, I don't **get** something if I **want** it." Sakura turned around and had a deadly angry look on her face and in her eyes, "If I **want** it, I'LL **TAKE** IT!"_

_And in just a blink of an eye she disappeared._

_Sasuke's eyes widened a bit and a smile played on his lips, "Stop showing off."_

"_I'm not." Sakura appeared behind Sasuke, "I'm trying to prove myself."_

"_You can prove nothing."_

"_I can prove to you…" Sakura took a kunai, "That I'm stronger!"_

_Without warning, Sasuke turned around and with a whoosh of his sword, he immediately made a cut on Sakura's left shoulder. She disappeared with a puff of smoke and she reappeared up in midair as she made handseals, her hands were smeared with the blood from her wound, "KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!" **(Summoning Technique)**_

_Then, a giant slug appeared a puff of smoke.

* * *

_

"Snoozing off again while on duty, Sakura?" Shizune knocked on the table of Sakura's desk in the Konoha Hospital, waking up the sleeping Sakura.

Sakura yawned and eyed Shizune, "Something wrong?"

"Nothing much." Shizune smiled, "You know, Naruto's having a hard time under Tsunade."

"Serves him right." Sakura yawned, "If he wants to be a Hokage, he must learn under Tsunade-sama."

It has been 3 years since she first recalled her memories of the Otogakure encounter with Sasuke in a hospital bed in a dream. It has been 2 years after when the continuation of her dream haunted her. And now, a year has elapsed since that dream.

She was now 18, and she was honored as one of the best kunoichis in Konoha. Why not? She's the Hokage's apprentice and she was able to drag back to Konoha… the Uchiha traitor.

"Uhm, can you please take my place for a while, Shizune-san?" Sakura smiled as she stood up.

"Yeah, sure." Shizune nodded, "Got a date?"

"Nope." Sakura stared at the clock: 11:00 in the evening, "I'm going to visit an old friend of mine… An ex-friend, actually."

"Who may that be?" Shizune teased.

Sakura stopped on her tracks and sighed, "Trust me, you don't want to know."

* * *

"I'm only giving you 10 minutes to talk to him," an ANBU told Sakura as he escorted her down the eerie and dark dungeons, "it's already curfew time for visitors."

"If that's so, Yamato-taichou, why did you still permit me to visit?" Sakura smiled at the ANBU.

"Well, I'm sure you'll get angry once I didn't." Yamato, the ANBU, replied, "You're quite short-tempered."

"And I'm glad you know." Sakura nodded as Yamato stopped.

Yamato placed in the key to a huge prison cell. The door opened and the hallway light illuminated the dark cell, revealing a long raven-haired man with his wrists and ankles shackled, seated on his bed.

She walked inside and as the door closed darkness enveloped the room again. The only light in the room was the single lighted torch mounted on the wall.

The raven-haired man spoke, "And you're here to laugh at me, aren't you?"

She inhaled the musty smell of the room and sighed.

"Just because I was stripped off freedom, you're here to mock me, aren't you?"

Her emerald eyes stared at his onyx orbs.

"You're the Hokage's apprentice, so you have every right to step on others with authority… And that's quite a way of showing strength, when you're just really weak." Uchiha Sasuke said, every word escaping from his tongue, dripping with serious venom.

"Are you done now?" Sakura finally replied, "Are you done with blaming me on your imprisonment?"

He didn't reply.

"You talk to me like that because it was **I** who was behind everything that locked you here. It was **I** who stood firmly on the ground to pinpoint you the traitor. **I** ruined your life, isn't that what you want to tell me? Fine, be like that." Sakura said with authority, "Is it because I finally proved myself to you?"

Silence.

"Is it because I finally shown my strength, and with your big ego, you thought I still am weak?"

He stared at her.

"I'm not here to laugh at you." Sakura sighed as she stared at her feet and turned her gaze back to him, "I'm not here to mock you."

He looked away but she didn't turn her gaze… she still focused on him.

"I'm not here to pity you either." She continued, "I'm not here to make you feel weak and show you that I can take what I want… because I know, I've already slapped that fact on your face."

He glared at her again.

"Then what are you here for?" he hissed.

"I don't know how long my feelings for you have vanished, Sasuke-kun." Sakura shook her head, "I don't know exactly how, exactly when, exactly where and exactly why."

"But after three years of hating you miserably, like you were the lowest person I ever met… I'm starting to feel for you again. Likewise, I don't know exactly how, exactly when, exactly where… and most of all, exactly why." Sakura sighed deeply, "I shouldn't love you right now because I know for a fact that you almost made my life utterly miserable. You almost took away… You almost took away my little happiness remaining, the only happiness that was left of me ever since you turned your back on Konoha."

"You almost took away… the lives of the few people who believed that I was strong… You almost took them away…" tears escaped from her eyes, "You almost killed Naruto… Sai… and Yamato-taichou… But I'm glad that I was able to stop you from doing so… and with my own hands I have granted my own wish of returning you here, with the aid of Naruto, Sai and Yamato-taichou…"

"I know you're strong, Sasuke-kun." Sakura continued, "I know you are **stronger** than I am. If you had your freedom and all of us were defenseless, I know you can kill all the people in Konoha, and leave no one alive, not even women… not even children… not even Tsunade-sama… you will spare no life… And I know that…"

"I'm doing my best to make sure you won't resent me, I'm doing my best to make sure you won't resent anyone anymore…" Sakura muffled out a sob, "So Sasuke-kun, I want you to know one thing, the one purpose I'm here for."

He didn't reply but his silence proved to have asked her what was her purpose.

"I'm here to beg of you." Sakura answered, "I still am weak, Sasuke-kun. But I know you will listen to my plea…"

He was quite confused… Beg? What would an imprisoned man give to this free woman? He barely has anything of his own in that place! What more could he give her?

"If you would grant me this one wish, then I'll try to convince Tsunade-sama to finally set you free." Sakura nodded, "Just one, Sasuke-kun, and I'll never ask of anything of you ever again."

"And what is your wish?" Sasuke finally found his words.

"Stop haunting my dreams…" Sakura answered, "And you could only do that if you could only let go of your hatred for all of us… I want to forget about you completely but your hatred holds me back."

Sasuke sighed, "Is that it?"

Sakura nodded.

"You made yourself much lowly than I am right now, just to ask me that?" Sasuke questioned, "You're asking me to stop haunting your dreams?"

Sakura nodded.

"How pathetic, Sakura." Sasuke stood up, the sounds of his shackles screeching the ground below him. He slowly made his way to Sakura but she could only step backwards, unknown fear building up inside her.

Sakura's tears flowed only all the more and her eyes narrowed when she felt that she could no longer step back any farther – she was cornered onto a wall. She shut her eyes tight.

Sasuke was now in front of Sakura. He towered over her, his shadow casting over her frame.

Sasuke leaned down and kissed her tears away. He couldn't use his shackled hands to wipe away her pain.

"You have my forgiveness." Sasuke told her, "But only you and no one else can have my word of pity for you."

Sakura's eyes snapped open at the unusual intimate motion of his. Never ever in her whole life… Never had she seen the Uchiha survivor act that way on her. He was rude, egocentric, greedy, selfish, proud, self-confident and let's not forget that he's one insensitive bastard but this…

This is a nightmare for Sakura.

In her younger years, it may have been a dream.

But now it was a nightmare.

For the possibilities of this happening to her life was far too impossible. It was as impossible as creating 18 folds in a paper when you could only try to the maximum of 17 folds.

And now the nightmare came to her badly.

He understood the confused expression in her trembling eyes and he smirked, "And you're proud that you've changed? I say, you never changed at all. Poor Sakura, not even an improvement on me."

Damn, she was in such a bad situation! If only she wasn't in one, she could've sworn he's six feet under right now!

"I've granted your wish." Sasuke continued, still smirking, "I forgave you and I hold no more resent for you. Now you can have your dreamless sleeps back. It's time for you to grant **my** wish."

"What is it?" Sakura asked as she tried to put her pieces together.

"Set me free." Sasuke headed back to his bed, "You did promise me that once I grant your wish you will set me free."

"And once I do that, what would happen next?" Sakura quirked an eyebrow, "You would leave Konoha again to finally kill your brother?"

"The first thing I'll do when I get out of here…" Sasuke stared at her, "I'll return to you the favor."

"What do you mean?" she arched an eyebrow.

"You'll know once you release me here legally." He replied.

Sakura was a bit pissed off when he didn't tell her what was that 'favor' he's going to return to her.

"I'm leaving now." She said as she left the cell.

Sasuke smiled as he remembered a certain memory.

* * *

"_Take me with you, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura pleaded as Sasuke was about to leave Konoha._

_They were still genins, 12-year-olds if you may. They were still young. They knew nothing about love, but it was different for these two._

_Sasuke had been void of love ever since his clan was massacred by his brother._

_Sakura grew up loving Sasuke…_

"_Sakura, go home." Sasuke replied rather harshly._

"_NO, SASUKE-KUN, DON'T LEAVE!" Sakura's tears flowed like a river, "Sasuke-kun… I… I love you!"

* * *

_

"That is the favor I'll be returning to you one day, Sakura." Sasuke whispered to himself.

**THE END

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**I hope you liked it! Tell me what you guys think, okay?**

**+Releina Artemis+**


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